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Stoli has been battling Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA) since January. IMHA is a condition in which her immune system has decided that her red blood cells are the enemy and must be destroyed.
Stoli spent one week in the doggie hospital and received five blood transfusions and human IgG before she started to recover. For the past two months, Stoli has been on massive doses of steroids and other drugs to supress her immune system so she has enough red blood cells to live. She is suffering from the effects of the drugs, such as muscle wasting, excessive thirst, and enlarged organs. She has lost 10 pounds and is getting weaker.
We find ourselves with massive medical expenses from this nightmare of a rollercoaster with our beloved dog. In January, our cost for the hospital stay was huge and the past two months our costs have been just over $2,000/month. We have begun to taper her medication. The goal is to get her to remission and she will need no drugs or a low dose of drugs, which will be much more affordable.
At this point, we have to consider how Stoli is feeling (up and down, good and bad days), how well we can handle the stress and anxiety of her care, and the cost. Unfortunately, cost is becoming more of a factor in our decision whether or not to continue with Stoli's care or to euthanize her.
To be honest, we do not know how much longer we have with Stoli. If she does well with the drug tapering, then we hope to have her for her normal doggie life (she is only 2 1/2 years old). If she does not do well with the drug tapering, we will have exhausted all of our options and have no choice but to stop trying. I say this to let you know that, should you be generous enough to donate, your funds may be going towards future care or helping us cover the cost of care already given to her.
Our goal is to take money out of the decisions we will have to make going forward. We want to decide what to do for Stoli based on how Stoli is feeling and her prognosis, not on the cost of her care.
Please help us keep the focus on our pup.
NEW - Stoli know has a blog where you can keep up with her progress more frequently and learn about IMHA. http://theturnaroundhound.wordpress.com/
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